Individual Research/Study Courses

Individual Research/Study courses are a great way for students to gain research experience while completing requirements for their undergraduate degrees. These courses are a component of the Research Certificate in Psychology, but can also be completed by students not working towards the certificate. Each course provides hands-on research experience under the mentorship of faculty members. Second year students can complete PSYCO 299 (Research Opportunity), a ★1.5 course. Third and fourth year students can complete any of the ★3 Independent Research/Study courses, such as PSYCO 396, PSYCO 398, PSYCO 496, and PSYCO 498. These courses require additional components to the research experience, such as writing a term paper. For more detailed information about these courses, such as prerequisites, simply click on the courses above.

Finding a Supervisor

Students wishing to enroll in any of the Individual Research/Study courses must find a Department of Psychology faculty member to serve as their supervisor. Students should begin by considering an area of psychology that interests them and visiting the Research Labs page to find more information about the current research being conducted in Department of Psychology labs. Once a lab of interest has been identified, the student should contact the lab director or faculty member in charge of the lab to discuss the possibility of completing an Individual Research/Study course under their supervision. In the correspondence the student should include:

their name and student information, including faculty and degree program.

what intrigues them about the research conducted in the chosen lab.

It is recommended that students select more than one lab to contact when hoping to enroll, as space is limited and their first choice may not be available.

Occasionally, a student may wish to complete a research course with a faculty member from a different department, or with a graduate student. Though this is possible, the student must also have a Department of Psychology faculty member sponsor the research. The student must first receive supervision approval from the external faculty member or graduate student and then request sponsor approval from a Department of Psychology faculty member. In the latter request, the student should include the name and contact information of the external supervisor and the lab in which they will be conducting research.